NID = For Sale signs in S.S.

Our company has employed over a dozen South Siders and supported many South Side businesses. We have enjoyed our close proximity to downtown and the ease of access to banks, shopping and the post office.

Next year, as a result of the reassessment, our real estate/library tax bill will increase over $1,450. The proposed Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) tax will add another $1,200.

That's a tax increase of $2,650 to just one South Side business. That's $2,650 that we cannot pay to our employees, use to buy equipment or to feed our families. We are not alone. Eighty percent of South Side property owners will see a higher tax bill in 2013.

The South Side Planning Forum is pursuing a plan that will take $5 million from the pockets of 3,000 hardworking people of South Side over the next five years, to sweep sidewalks on Carson Street, secure the profits of Carson Street bar owners, market South Side bars, and perpetuate the existence of SSLDC, under a different name.

Adding insult to injury, they're throwing a party February 15, to kick off the final push to get the NID tax in place.

The ‘For sale' sign will soon rise on many South Side properties, including ours. We can no longer afford to own property here.

Further attempts to force the NID tax down the throats of South Siders will cause a great divide pitting neighbor against neighbor and business against business. A divide that South Side has never known.

South Side is struggling to survive. I implore this Forum to stop this process, now.